Customs duties: Luxury manufacturers worry about their margins

Luxury goods manufacturers are navigating blindly. Although the sector now knows that its exports will be taxed at a rate of 15% upon entering the United States on August ¹ , the entire industry is wondering about the consequences of these additional costs and the most appropriate strategy to adopt to avoid impacting their profitability.

Because, as Pierre-François Le Louët, co-president of the French Union of Fashion and Clothing Industries, points out, "the United States is a very large market, which luxury goods manufacturers and high-end ready-to-wear brands cannot do without." The country alone accounts for around 80 billion of the 363 billion euros in global luxury goods sales. France exported, in particular, nearly 8% of its women's ready-to-wear, 13% of its handbag production and as many cosmetic products there in 2024.

Uncle Sam remains the priority for French manufacturers, faced with the global market slowdown. Sales of ready-to-wear, cosmetics, and perfumes could decline by 2% to 5% during 2025, according to forecasts published in June by Bain & Company.

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